Novak Djokovic inches closer to medal at Olympics by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas

Novak Djokovic has played with ruthless efficiency for much of the last month. After hurting his knee at the French Open and requiring surgery for a torn meniscus, he was able to make it back for the start of Wimbledon. He made the final but was trounced in straight sets by Carlos Alcaraz. No bother as Djokovic had won the grass-court major seven times before.

What arguably the greatest player in the history of tennis has never done before, though, is win Olympic gold. He has watched as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have done so, though. Djokovic has never brought glory for Serbia the way Nadal has for Spain and Murray has for the UK. He still has a chance to in 2024, however.

Djokovic defeated Nadal easily in the second round and has yet to drop a set at the Olympics. His quarterfinal opponent might have been his toughest yet, however, as Stefanos Tsitsipas is an excellent clay-court player and the Greek player had beaten Djokovic twice before (though in 14 total matches).

Novak Djokovic defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics

After taking the first set with relative ease 6-3, Djokovic found himself two breaks down in the second set. Worse, he struggled with his surgically repaired knee and at one point seemed unsure if he would be able to continue in the second set. By this point, he was down 0-3 and Tsitsipas seemed well on his way to evening the match.

The cool Serb found a way to fight his way back, get the two breaks back, and force the second set to a tie-break. Djokovic is ruthless in his approach to tie-breaks and is historically great in them. Just getting the set to a tie-break was likely a win for the Serb and emotionally defeating for the Greek.

There was little drama - and Djokovic did not appear affected by any knee issue - late in the second set. You could see he was feeling as if he was going to win in straight sets while Tsitsipas's confidence was beginning to greatly diminish after losing the two breaks. Djokovic took the tie-break 7-3 and will now play red-hot Italian Lorenzo Musetti in Friday's semifinal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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